Chapter 8 – Aces Wild

A lone Haxorus sat at a near-empty table, hidden away in the back corner of a drunken tavern. The rowdy, chaotic atmosphere of his surroundings almost let him blend in with the darkness that permeated the back side, almost silent in relation to the front areas.

 

The dragon fiddled with his gem-tipped horns, he seemed to be expecting another. The dealer, a Nuzleaf, eyed the Haxorus impatiently as he continued shuffling a deck of cards off-mindedly. 

 

To his left, bolts of lightning shot out. A yellow lightning-shaped tail materialized, followed shortly by the rest of the yellow feline’s body, face hidden away with a cloak draped overhead.

 

The Zeraora bowed, unbuckling his cloak in the process. He wore a simple leather jacket, upper rim topped with blue-dyed Dubwool fur.  A pair of aviators hung in his left pocket, him having taken them off just before entering the dimly lit bar.

 

Haxorus Sho beamed with pleasure, his guest had finally arrived.

 

“Aye Sho!” the Zeraora flicked his paws out in a friendly gesture of sorts. “Finally free enough to listen in on my goods for once eh?”

 

“It’s indeed been a while hasn’t it, Teshin?” Sho smirked, polishing his horns casually with a small handkerchief attached to his left pocket. “I assume you’re not just here to tell me of common rumors you picked up across the street?”

 

“Come on bro! You know better than anyone that my shit is legit!” Teshin crossed his arms, hurt by Sho’s comments. “Literally haven’t told anyone else about this either, you better be grateful!”

 

“I merely jest, Teshin. A leader of the Republic scouts brigade is bound to come across information most prime for picking.” Sho chuckled. He pulled off a white cloth resting on the table, revealing a tall pile of chips beneath. A similar piece of cloth remained draped over a drastically smaller pile of chips on the opposite side of the table.

 

“Come, join me in a game of poker. I even restored your balance to what they were prior to our last meeting~”

 

Teshin’s expression turned sour. He stood in front of his pile of chips, reluctance painted across his face. Memories of the utter thrashing the Haxorus give him last they played resurfaced in his mind.

 

“I don’t-”

 

“Oh, but you do! For a professional in the spy business, your facial expressions are oddly easy to read.” Sho joked. “You want revenge. You want to finally win back all that money you put in over the years~”

 

“Ugh…”

 

The Haxorus reached over and plucked the cloth off Teshin’s stack of chips, playfully dangling it in front of the Zeraora’s electrified whiskers. 

 

“Fine! I’ll play your damn game. Happy?” Teshin spat. He grabbed the nearest chair, sliding it over to sit directly opposite the smiling Haxorus.

 

“Excellent.” Sho gestured to the Nuzleaf. “Thank you for your patience, Mr. Dealer. We are ready to begin.”

 

The suited Nuzleaf sprang into action. It flicked four cards across the table, a pair of cards to each player. Three more cards lay face down in front of the grass type. 

 

Teshin moved, laying an oversized paw on the table, concealing his hand as he checked it with his other paw. King of Spades and Queen of Hearts.

 

“I’m just gonna skip the rest of the fluff, alright?” said Teshin, keeping his eyes locked on his cards. His expression darkened. “My hunch was correct. The king is still alive, but…” 

 

“But what?” Sho replied expectantly. He stared inquisitively at the feline, not even bothering a peek at his cards.

 

“All of our planning is fucked Sho. They already found him. Saw it with my own two eyes. He’s back, and he’s with them ” Teshin growled, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

 

Sho only replied with a light, dismissive chuckle. He finally looked down at his cards, the smile on his face widening as he nonchalantly threw out 750 Gs worth of chips. A tiny dent in his pile, yet still a massive amount of money to bet with such little care.

 

The Zeraora shook his head in annoyance.

 

“A couple of my scouts I placed near the castle and noble districts also reported back a change of schedule. Every noble is leaving for the castle, and workers are being brought in and consolidated in the palace.” 

 

Teshin looked down at his hand once more, a smirk breaking through. 

 

“Call.”

 

Sho raised an eyebrow, his eyes brightening in both shock and glee. “Oh? No re-raise? That’s awfully unlike you Tesh…”

 

“Tch. I’m impulsive, but I’m not insane, Sho. Did you forget we’re playing ten-twenty?”

 

The dealer flipped the cards that lay in front of them. A King of Hearts, a Three of Clubs, and an Ace of Diamonds. 

 

Huh… odd… 

 

It felt off, almost. Teshin had flopped second pair, yet he still felt uncertain about the strength of his own hand. With such a strong opening bet from the Haxorus, who knew the sorts of hands that cunning Haxorus could be holding? 

 

Or maybe it was something else… Could it be…? That creeping feeling inside was growing worse.  

 

“I’m sure you’re smart enough to know what I’m alluding to here…” Teshin sighed, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. 

 

Bitterly gnashing his teeth, he continued. “It’s all out the window now, Sho. Our entire plan revolved around finding him first! We’re screwed! What are we suppo–”

 

“Calm.” Sho held his claws out at the Zeraora’s face, interrupting him. “Have you no faith in my planning? Did you truly believe the plan would crumble at such simple matters?”

 

The Zeraora only covered his face with his paws in response. Deep breaths Tesh… You can’t be breaking down like this… Not again…

 

He reached over, grabbing a drink set aside for him. Whiskey. On the Rocks. His throat burned as he downed the entire glass in one fell swoop. It distracted him, kept the overwhelming stress at bay, and let him regroup his thoughts. Another deep breath, followed by a shaky sigh. 

 

“Better?”

 

“I-I…” Teshin wiped away the sweat that had trickled down his face. Shaking away the pent-up anxiety, he slid the now-empty glass to the side. “Apologies for that. I didn’t mean to…”

 

“Don’t worry about it.” Sho consoled, a comforting smile shining at Teshin. “You’ve come a long way, and you’re doing much better now. I’m glad.”

 

“Thanks for being so patient with me,” Teshin replied with a smile of his own. “Anyways… What do you suppose we do now? We’ve waited years for Edward to get this weak again.”

 

A long sigh, followed by a clink as the other glass of whiskey was downed. “Well… there’s not much we can do in our current position. Regroup with the rest of the scouts, and I’ll do the same. We can’t risk it for the time being.”

 

He rapped his fingers on the table. “Check.”

 

Teshin slammed his fists, Sho’s stack of chips collapsing over. “But we can’t! That’s exactly what we did last time!” He shuddered, the anxiety overwhelming him once more. “I don’t want it to happen again, Sho. Our organization… Our comrades…”

 

“Sho. Look at me. It’s not going to happen again. I swear on my life.”

 

“Ugh…” Teshin whimpered quietly. More deep breaths, silently checking back as he tried to calm himself down. Both of them watched as the Nuzleaf slid another card from the top of the deck. 

 

The dealer placed the card face down, glancing at both players for any re-raises. They both remained silent. 

 

At the flip of the turn, Teshin’s scowl immediately brightened into a small smile. King of clubs! That makes triple kings!

 

With slightly more confidence he was able to slow his breathing. Sho smiled, possibly at his own hand, but definitely at Teshin’s improved mood. 

 

A beat of silence. “Sorry again about that… I didn’t want to–”

 

“Tesh, you’re doing well. Trust me, we both know how much that day hurt…” The Haxorus slowly shook his head. “ Never. Again. ”

 

Another rap of the table. He shined another smirk at Teshin as he threw another check over towards the Zeraora. 

 

“Let me start over.” said Teshin, clearing his throat. “The Everlasting King has been located, but… He’s… Uh… No longer part of the Snivy evolutionary line…”

 

A concerned grunt escaped the Haxorus’s face, now painted with intrigue and curiosity.

 

Teshin rummaged around his bag, fishing out a jar. Inside the jar were a couple shards of snow-white eggshells. “I watched him hatch out the egg. I was about to make my move too, but two royal guards got there before me. A Lucario and a Breloom…”

 

The Haxorus’s eyes narrowed at the mention of the two Pokemon. “Lucario and Breloom… You don’t suppo–”

 

“No! Not a chance! I know my scouts! Those two would never .” The Zeraora interrupted defensively.

 

“Okay, fine…” Sho relented. “Still, the King is now safe in his palace, there’s not much we can do at the moment. I propose we use this opportunity to grow. After all, the palace would be way too busy dealing with the king’s health to be monitoring our whereabouts as much.”

 

“Recall your scouts, assign them back to protection duty. I will begin to consolidate our forces. By the time that greedy bastard of a King is all grown up again, we’ll be ready to counter everything they throw at us!” Sho announced, pridefully shaking his fists in the air. 

 

Teshin considered the Haxorus’s words for a moment. He still had many doubts, he was trained to be like that, after all. The plan lacked direction, it took many assumptions about how the royals would act, and it was just… not well thought out.

 

Suddenly, the Zeraora’s sky-blue eyes lit up. Another idea, one much more risky yet much sounder, popped into his mind. He snapped his head back upwards, staring directly into Sho’s aged, crimson eyes. 

 

“You know…” Teshin said. “Another idea came up just now…”

 

Sho’s smile glistened against the candlelight. “Ahaha! That’s more like the Teshin I know! Let’s hear it, any idea at this point would be better than what I was cooking up…” 

 

“So you do admit your plan wasn’t very good~” Teshin joked. His mood had brightened up significantly, allowing him to enjoy the oddly vibrant atmosphere of the bar much more than before. “Well, I propose…” he plucked a few more chips off his pile, throwing 1500 Gs worth into the center. “We play a little more aggressively …”

 

“Oh?” Sho replied, eyebrows raised.

 

“As you surmised, there’s definitely trouble brewing in the castle… The king being reincarnated as a different Pokemon… that’s bound to cause a few issues for the monarchy. I overheard some of the nobles mentioning memory loss, as well as a few others complaining about the royal cabinet in private.”,

 

The Haxorus leaned his whole body in, his horns barely missing the chandelier that hung in front of him. “And your idea?” 

 

“They’re angry, Sho. Angry and directionless . If my sources are accurate, the King seems to have come down with a case of severe memory loss as well. He can’t lead, Sho. We can fix him, and all the noble houses will follow.

 

Sho blinked. “Fix him?”

 

Teshin shot up, kicking his chair away. It crashed into a Braviary stumbling nearby, too drunken to notice as the chair collided with its scar-covered wing, splintering into countless pieces of wood.

 

“Yes, Sho! We can fix him . It’s simple. Send me in there! Instead of killing him, I kidnap him instead. He’s too weak to fight back, and assuming his memory loss is sufficient, maybe wouldn’t even fight back!” Stars formed in his eyes, paws pumping into the air excitedly.

 

“Once he is in our control it’s smooth sailing from there. He becomes our puppet, and we finally, finally , can properly rule Krux like we always strived for!”

 

“Yes! Tesh! That’s it!” Sho enthused. He stood up himself, calling the Zeraora’s raise with 1500G of his chips. 

 

The pot was growing to become ridiculously big, and with Teshin’s triple kings, he was sure to win it all.

 

…right?

 

They both settled back down, Teshin reaching over for a new chair to replace the one he had just destroyed. The Nuzleaf flipped over the final card, revealing another ace. Two aces and three queens… A full house! 

 

Teshin kept himself from celebrating. Stay focused tesh… still loads of time to fuck this up…

 

Sho continued as they settled down. “Good! Excellent even! However…” Sho smiled as he peeked at his cards one last time. “I propose one slight… revision to your plan.”

 

The Haxorus wrapped his hands around his entire stack of chips, pushing them toward the center of the pile. “Contact the rest of the scouts. We’re going all in .”

 

Teshin stared at Sho, mouth agape. This is… he’s really doing this… but we… I… can’t… Not again…

 

“No… Sho… y-you can’t be serious!”

 

“Oh, but I entirely am~” Sho’s casual joking attitude did not in soothing Teshin’s conflicted mind. It’s too risky… I can’t… but… I trust him… He knows what he’s doing… What if he has quad aces? What if we fail again… again… again…

 

Teshin clutched his head, his mind fragmented with so many conflicting thoughts and considerations. He stayed locked in this state until a familiar hand reached over, petting between his ears. The feline purred lightly, his mind temporarily placated. 

 

“Tesh… You’re spiraling again. Trust me . This will work.” Sho asserted. He continued rubbing his claws around the Zeraora’s ears. “You know me better than anyone else Tesh. If I believe it’s going to work, then I will make sure it’s going to work.”

 

Teshin, adequately soothed and emotions calmed, gripped Sho’s claws. He warmly looked up at the dragon, tears that had welled up in his eyes retracting back.

 

“Alright, Sho… I trust you. I fold.”

 

Sho grinned as he watched Teshin throw his cards toward the center, face down. He hesitated for a moment, before deciding on revealing his cards to the Zeraora. A seven of hearts, and a two of spades.

 

“W-what? N-no!” Teshin stammered as he stared back towards the golden-brown dragon, eyes filled with sadness and betrayal. “I… I trusted you… Sho… We can’t win like this…”

 

Sho scooped his winnings back towards his pile, before stepping around the table toward Teshin. A deep hug followed, both Pokemon’s arms interlocked between the other’s backs. A silent sob emanated from Teshin.

 

“There there…” Sho pat the Zeraora on the back a few times, before breaking off the hug. “Trust me.”

 

Teshin stepped away, still doubtful of the dragon’s assurances. “But we don’t have the Pokemon! Let me go alone! I can’t deal with losing any of my scouts!”

 

“Teshin.” The Haxorus’s voice deepened, a more serious tone replacing his lighthearted comforting one. 

 

“Look at my hand.” He pointed towards his cards, still laying face up for the two of them to see. He pointed back at Teshin, prodding him lightly with an extended claw. “Now look at yourself. We may have few, but we have the best this kingdom’s populace may offer.”

 

“You don’t need to have it all for your enemies to think you have it all.”

 

Teshin contemplated for a while longer. He slid the cloth back over his chip pile, now considerably smaller than it originally was.

 

“I…” He breathed deeply and picked up his cloak, hiding his face under it once more. “Mm… Alright… I’ll contact you again once all of my scouts have returned.”

 

Sho smiled, waving goodbye as the feline headed towards the exit. Just before leaving, however, Teshin turned back around to face the Haxorus one last time.

 

“Oh and… thanks, by the way. For all of that… I appreciate that.” 

 

They smiled at each other, before the feline zipped away, golden thunder blending in with the winds howling violently outside. The drunken bar paid no notice to the Republic’s dealings, their motivations refreshed, and plans set anew.

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Zeraora Teshin | Art by Wizardofwoof